SEPP's position on global warming claims: "Without firm evidence that an appreciable warming will occur as a result of human activities, or that its consequences would be harmful, there can be no justification for bureaucratic remedies or any action beyond a "no-regrets" policy of energy efficiency and market-based conservation" (http://www.sepp.org/keyissue.html). Other issues of concern include ozone depletion and "regulatory excess."
SEPP was the author of the Leipzig Declaration, which was supposedly based on the "scientfic" conclusions drawn from a November 1995 conference in Leipzig, Germany, which SEPP organized with the European Academy for Environmental Affairs. SEPP publicly used the Declaration to suggest there is little scientific consensus on global warming. According to P.R. Watch, news reporters discovered that in the end, twenty-five of the signers were TV weathermen - a profession that requires no in-depth knowledge of climate research. Other signers included a dentist, a medical laboratory researcher, a civil engineer, and an amateur meteorologist. Of the 33 European signers, four of them could not be located, 12 denied ever having signed, and some had not even heard of the Leipzig Declaration. After discounting the signers whose credentials were inflated, irrelevant, false, or unverifiable, it turned out that only 20 of the names on the list had any scientific connection with the study of climate change
(paraphrased from http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title=Leipzig_Declaration_on_Global_Climate_Change).

KEY QUOTES

"Climate science is not 'settled;' it is both uncertain and incomplete. The available observations do not support the mathematical models that predict a substantial global warming and form the basis for a control policy on greenhouse (GH) gas emissions. We need a more targeted program of climate research to settle major scientific problems."Source: SEPP website

"Global agriculture will likely benefit from climate warming and increased precipitation; increased CO2 leads to more rapid plant growth; increased nocturnal and winter warming leads to a longer growing season. Farmers can and will adjust to climate changes."Source: SEPP website

21 April, 1998Released a statement that "More than 15,000 scientists, [8/4/98: now about 17,000] two-thirds with advanced academic degrees, have now signed a Petition against the climate accord concluded in Kyoto (Japan) in December 1997."
The petition said that "There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gases is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth's atmosphere and disruption of the Earth's climate. Moreover, there is substantial scientific evidence that increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide produce many beneficial effects upon the natural plant and animal environments of the Earth."
Journalists and others investigating the petition, known as the Leipzig Declaration, had difficulty verifying the number and authenticity of the signatures.Source: SEPP website

7 June, 2002President S. Fred Singer signed a letter to President Bush, asking him to withdraw the "Climate Action Report 2002" and demand that it be rewritten based on "sound science." The letter also recommends that Bush "dismiss or re-assign all administration employees who are not pursuing your agenda, just as you have done in several similar instances."Source: Joint Letter To President Bush On The EPA's Climate Action Report 6/7/02

FUNDING

Science and Environmental Policy Project has received $20,000 from ExxonMobil since 1998.